Jo Konta has often reserved her best for the Australian Open, and she got her 2018 campaign off to a flying start on Tuesday with a comfortable victory over American Madison Brengle.

The British number one eased through her first round with a 6-3, 6-1 victory that took 66 minutes against the world No 90.

In the last two editions Konta has made the semi-finals and quarter finals, only stopped last year by Serena Williams. Once again the relatively pacey hard courts of Melbourne Park seemed to be to her liking.

Johanna Konta produced a dominant display to beat Madison Brengle in straight sets

She now has what looks like another very winnable match in the second round, against another US player, 23 year-old world No 123 Bernarda Pera, who only got into the draw as a lucky loser. It was a lovely morning in Victoria, although temperatures could get stiflingly hot later in the week.

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Konta was in confident form from the beginning against the player who has the last registered win against Williams, achieved in last year's Australian Open warm-up tournament in New Zealand.

Brengle can be an awkward opponent with a variety of spins and slices, but her serve is vulnerable and Konta duly tucked in, breaking five times in all.

Konta came out aggressively during the opening stages of the match at the Hisense Arena

Brengle couldn't prevent Konta from breaking as she struggled to match her opponent

The Brit dominated Brengle with a series of powerful forehands to take the first set 6-3

Her own serve was in sound working order, achieving a 71 per cent success rate on landing in her first delivery.

'I'm very happy with that match, she gets a lot of balls back and makes her opponent work for it,' said Konta. 'I love playing here and had some of the best results of my career here. I'm excited to be back here on Thursday.'

Her dominance was shown in her making 37 winners compared to her opponent's meagre total of four. The only blemish came when she was broken back for 5-3 in the first set, and she needed to save break points when closing it out.

Konta has already shown flashes of her best tennis on this trip, most notably in Brisbane against Madison Keys and Elina Svitolina, and if she gets on a roll she will be dangerous.

Konta remained aggressive on second serve and looked confident with her service game

World No 90 Brengle over-hit a number of shots during the first set against Konta in Melbourne

Konta is good friends with Brengle from their days coming up in the lower reaches of the circuit, to the point where they lend books to each other to read. However, it was obvious there would be no quarter given on the court.

'She brings different sorts of difficulties,' said Konta. 'I thought it was a great first round for me to fight through and stay strong in the way I wanted to play out there.

'She gets a lot of balls back. As you saw in some of those points, I think that's definitely her comfort zone. I wanted to make sure I was playing most of the match in my comfort zone.'

Konta delivered a brilliant backhand to earn three set points before taking the first 6-3

Spectators watch the first-round match at the Hisense Arena in the sweltering Melbourne heat